Timor-Leste, Indonesia vote for total ban on nuclear
weapons

On
July 7, 2017, Timor-Leste and Indonesia joined 120
other UN members in supporting the growing
international consensus to abolish nuclear weapons.
Both countries voted in favor of a new UN treaty
prohibiting the nuclear weapons. The Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will open for
signature by states at the United Nations in New
York on 20 September 2017 and take effect once 50
nations have ratified the treaty..

Timor-Leste
and Indonesia have both joined the growing
international consensus to abolish nuclear
weapons.

Both countries --along with New
Zealand -- voted in favor of a new UN treaty
prohibiting nuclear weapons,
reports ETAN.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons will open for signature by states at the
United Nations in New York on September 20.

Television New Zealand reports that
Aotearoa/NZ and more than 120 other states voted
in favour of the final text of the treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons during the final
session of the UN Conference to Negotiate a
Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear
Weapons in New York.

New Zealand was a
vice-president of the UN conference and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade worked
over the past five years on the initiative to
ban nuclear weapons.

"Its potential to
end the threat of nuclear destruction is a gift
for future generations,"
Peace
Movement Aotearoa said.

However,
Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Brownlee said
none of the states that took part in the
negotiations actually possess nuclear weapons,
reports TVNZ.

�We need to be realistic
about the prospects of this treaty leading to a
reduction in nuclear weapons in the short term.
However, the treaty is an important step towards
a world free of nuclear weapons, which has been
a long-held goal for New Zealand.�

The
treaty bans the development, testing,
production, manufacture, possession, transfer,
use or threat of use, deployment, installation
or stationing of nuclear weapons and other
nuclear explosive devices.

Nuclear-armed
states have a "clear pathway" to join the treaty
as well, and destroy their nuclear weapons in a
time-bound, verifiable and irreversible manner.

"Some countries like New Zealand have
already enacted a national ban on nuclear
weapons. This treaty now provides the first
legal prohibition on nuclear weapons at a global
level," Brownlee said.

New Zealand is
expected to be one of the first states to sign
and ratify the treaty when it opens for
signature.

ETAN is "A voice
of reason, criticizing the administration's reluctance to
address ongoing human rights violations and escalating
oppression in West Papua and against religious minorities
throughout Indonesia."